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TYPE WRITING MACHINE RIBBON. No. 532,910. Patented Jan. 22, 1895.

Urrnn LEBBEUS l-I. ROGERS, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO THE ROGERS MANIFOLD AND CARBON PAPER COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

TYPE-WRlTlNGuMACHlNE RIBBON. l

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 532,910, dated January 22, 1895. Application filed December 3,1894. SerialNo. 531,250. (N0 p i n To all whom it may concern: I

Be it known that I, LEBBEUS H. ROGERS, of New York, N. Y., have invented a new and useful Improvement in Type \Vriter Ribbons, which is fully set forth in the following specification.

This invention has reference to the manufacture of inking ribbons for use in type-writing machines. Asis well known aribbon subjected to ordinary use on a type-writer will last but a comparatively short time, the ink with which it is saturated becoming gradually exhausted, and the fabric itself being worn and cut by the blows of the type. Much care and judgment must be exercised in the fabrication of these ribbons to obtain the best results. If the fabric be thick and heavy it will wear longer, but will not make a good clear impression; if light and thin it will print clearly for a brief time, but will quickly wear out. New ribbons are usually inked more heavily than is required,'and consequently their work is at first somewhat coarse and indistinct, and

after further use the impressions become more and more faint. Where the machineis used for stock-reports, accounts, bills, statistics and similar work, the periods, dots and dashes largely employed in this work cut the ribbon up very quickly. These are the main considerations and requirements to be kept in view in the manufacture of type-writer ribbons, and the object of my present invention is to produce a ribbon better adapted than those now made to the conditions of usage, which will wear longer, do better work and retain the ink a much greater time.

To these ends I have found it advantageous to employ a ribbon composed of two plies or layers of fabric of such texture that the two layers together make a ribbon of proper medium thickness for the purpose. The two layers may be stitched together at the edges (though it is desirable only for sake of convenience of manipulation) and are then inked and finished by any of the common and approved methods which are well known in the art and need not be here described. The two layers or plies of fabric. constituting the doubled ribbon may be united at the edges in any suitable way. Preferably this result is accomplished by weaving the ribbon in the form of a tube and flattening it, and the advantage of this plan is that the double ribbon thereby produced has selvage edges, as covered by my Patent No. 420,312, dated January 28, 1890, the importance of which is explained in said patent.

The increased durability of the double ribbon is not due to increased thickness; for the combined thickness of the two plies is not, or need not be, greater than that of an ordinary single-ply ribbon. The advantageous results are due to having two independent layers of fabric tohold the ink and to receive the impact of the type. The cutting of the ribbon above referred to is caused by a sharp type strikingseveral timesin the same spot. When there are two layers of fabric, the under one not only cushions against the upper one, but there is opportunity for the two layers to shift their relative positions slightly, so that the ribbon as a whole is not so easily out. I have found in practice that one of the duplex ribbons will stand (so far as the wear of the fabric is concerned) more than twice as much usage as a'single ribbon of about the same thickness.

Regarding the lasting of the ink, the gain is still more decided. The fibers of a ribbon composed of one layer will absorb and hold as much ink as a duplex ribbon of the same thickness but in practice four times as many impressions can be made from the latter as from the former. With the double ribbon a portion of the ink will be taken from the layer next the cylinder, but this layer is also reinforced by a new supply driven into it by the impact of the type, and is ready with a new supply when the type again strikes in the same spot. The space between the two ribbons serves as asort of reservoir for ink,which is gradually forced through the layer next the cylinder to the surface which acts upon the paper. To increase the lifetime of a ribbon it is obviously necessary both to increase the durability of the fabric to resist the wearing action of the type, and also to increase the inking capacity, since it will not make the ribbon more lasting to improve one of these properties only. It will be seen then that, by simple means, which do not materially increase the cost of the ribbon or the difficulty Thus.

of production, the invention increases both the resistance of the ribbon to wear and its capacity for ink.

Although I have referred to the use of only two plies or layers of fabric, that will be understood to include two or more, since it will be obvious that the same useful results would attend the use of a larger number than two plies, other things being equal. No advantage or new results, however, are gained by using more than two plies.

My invention will be fully understood from the foregoing description, and for the purposes of illustrating the same I have filed herewith two drawings representing portions of type-writer ribbons constructed in accordance with the invention.

Figure l is a top view of a two-ply ribbon with part of the upper layer 2 broken away, exposing the under layer 3. The two layers are attached together near their edges by rows of stitches 4.

Fig.2 is a perspective view of a ribbon continuously woven in the form of a tube, and

flattened, the same reference letters being used to designate like parts.

In this form of ribbon (which is the form preferred) the lines of stitches near the if desired, to hold the tube in its flattened condition, but as stated above they are not necessary.

Having thus described my invention, what claim is 1. As an article of manufacture, a typewriter ribbon composed of several layers or plies of fabric united as specified, the several plies being charged with ink and having their adjacent surfaces in contact, substantially as described.

2. As an article of manufacture, a two-ply type-writer ribbon composed of a seamless tube of suitable fabric flattened to bring the adjacent surfaces of the layers or plies into contact, both layers or plies being charged with ink, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

LEBBEUS H. ROGERS. Witnesses:

PHILIP MAURO, REEvE LEWIS.

edges may be employed, 

